Uhg- A terrible thought

[Earendilyon]

I also always read that as referring to Morgoth wanting to make Lúthien pregnant, or at least having sexual thoughts about her.

Eomer wrote:

They are restricted to the Halls of Mandos when their bodies are slain

No, they were not. After some time (sometime longer, sometimes shorter) they left Mandos to live again, in Valinor. As their life was the life of Arda, they could not leave it, as Men could (by dieing). Sitting in Mandos till the end would mean they effectually had left Arda. The only two exceptions I know of are Míriel, who refused to leave Mandos, and her son Fëanor, who was forbidden to leave Mandos.
An other exception is ofcourse Glorfindel, who after being released from Mandos and living a short time in Valinor was granted to go back (or was sent back) to Middle Earth, to assist Elrond against Sauron.


As to the Ainur's immortality vs the Elves' immortality: only the Ainur were indeed immortal. Elves were not mortal, but their life was (as said above) the life of Arda. While Arda lasted, they would live. They could be slain or die of grief, so, they were not immortal.
Also, Ainur who were slain in their bodily form, did not die as Men died, they could come back (as Sauron did a number of times). They could use too much of their inherent power, so that they could not rematerialise, nor effect much after being slain, see Saruman and Sauron at the end of the War of the Ring.

[ 1:51 PM December 04, 2003: Message edited by: Earendilyon ]